All language subtitles for Sir.Doug.And.The.Genuine.Texas.Cosmic.Groove.2015

[Joe] Wish I could
have bought it.

[Terry] Yeah, you could
just walk from there anywhere.

[Joe] Yeah, back
then it was like

7-Eleven or the Whole Foods.

There weren't that many options.

Are you guys ready to go?

[Film Crew] We're rolling.

[Female] Yeah, just
once you're pen clicking

and you're paper's shot.

[Joe] Terry, I always heard

that for the very first
Austin City Limits,

it was supposed to be
Doug and Willie together,

and for some reason,
Willie said, supposedly,

"I'll do it, but
I'll do it alone."

And it's a rumor,
but if it's true,

he did not want to share
the stage with Doug Sahm.

You ever hear that?

- I have never heard that story.

[clapping]
[whooping]

[guitar tuning]

Willie is not the type
who would turn down

an opportunity to perform
with somebody else.

Willie loves to get on
stage with other people.

Now, I can imagine Willie's
manager saying that.

- Are you on, Augie?

Are you on?

Wonderful.

[music "She's About A Mover"]

*

* Well, she was walkin'
down the street, *

* Lookin' fine as she could be

* Hey hey

* Well she was a-walkin'
down the street *

* Lookin' fine as she could be *

* Hey hey

* Well you have love
and conversation *

* Oh now baby baby what I say *

* Hey hey

* She's about a mover

Sing it

* She's about a mover

* She's about a mover

* She's about a mover

* Hey hey hey hey

[Bill] Doug had the most
pure musical spirit of anybody.

Other musicians that knew
about Doug revered him,

but the ones who didn't,

didn't know who I
was talking about.

- * Oh now baby
baby what I say *

* Hey hey

Play it Augie!

- People said,
"Man, I never heard

"this kind of music before.

"I've heard Mexican polka music,

"and conjunto and stuff,
but y'all play different,

and it's got that
rock feel to it."

- * Well she strolled
on up to me *

* And said hey big boy
what's your name *

- It's infectious, what
do you call that word?

It's there, you know,
it's got a groove to it.

- * And said hey big boy
what's your name *

[Dan] Doug was never
satisfied with one thing.

- * Well you know
I love you baby *

[Dan] You know, if
this record was on Venus,

the next one would be on Mars.

- You know, you know where
the groove is at.

That California thing,
don't get it,

that far out in space music man,
play the real thing, man.

[guitar mimicking]

You know, man.

- Oh, yep.

[harmonica solo]

- My dad wasn't just a gimmick.

He had such a long
lasting career

that he was able to reinvent
himself several times.

Most people don't get that.

- I think if he knew less songs,

if he wrote less songs, if
he played a little bit worse,

he would have been
a much bigger star.

- If you really wanna know why
Doug Sahm never got huge,

he could never stay in
one band long enough

for people to fall in love him,

and then continue to love what
they first fell in love with.

[rock music]

*

[cheering and applause]

[Chuck] You know, there's
a quote about you, Doug.

"You're as comfortable in
the world of Willie Nelson

as you are in the world
of the Grateful Dead."

It's kind of a paradox
it seems to some people.

- Uh-huh, it's strange.
- Why's it so?

Why would it be?

[Doug] Country was the
first thing, you know.

As a little kid, I used
to go and watch Bob Wills.

[Chuck] Bob Wills the legend.

[Doug] Charlie Walker,
Lefty Frizzell,

then I got into blues
as I got older.

[blues music]

Where I was raised was about

four football fields from
where this black club was

that had T-Bone Walker,
and I could go up there

as a kid and stand up on a box
and look in and see T-Bone.

[music "Hey Baby"]

I just come up kinda
digging all kinds of music.

*

- I never, like, Doug and I,
some of the other guys,

we were a little bit too young,

they wouldn't let
us in the club,

but we could go and we'd
peek in the Tiffany Lounge

and we would see Little Sammy,

and he'd be playing,

* I'm just a gigolo

and we were like, "Man,"

we was like, "I wanna
do what he's doing."

- I lived with my
grandparents till I was 10

'cause I couldn't walk,
I had polio,

and there was this bus
that come across the street

to my momma's house
on Friday and Saturday

if I was there on the
weekend with them,

and the guys would
get off the bus

about 5 o'clock
in the afternoon,

drank beer, and
laughing and singing,

and about one or two o'clock
in the morning,

that bus would come back
and let them people off.

They're still drinking beer
and laughing and singing,

and I used to tell
my momma, I said,

"Momma, that's what
I want to do."

[country music]

- Doug was just mesmerized
by music, you know,

I mean, he was in a
trance, I just think

he just, just floating
with it, you know.

When these big time
musicians would play,

he would just hover
around that steel guitar

and he was in another world.

- * One sunny day

- He would then go home,
crank the guitar up,

and start playing that thing
till 11 o'clock at night

trying to get the sound,
and that is the process

that went on and
on and on and on.

It was four of us living
in this 20 by 20 room.

Things were tough.

There was a country
and western night club

that was near us
called The Barn.

He would put on a sideshow
or intermission show

playing the steel guitar.

He wasn't like the average kid.

They called my
brother this prodigy.

- * Rollin'

* Rollin' along

* I am nothing but
a rollin' stone *

* Don't have a worry and
I don't have a care *

* I'm always a-goin'
but I never get there *

* I just keep rollin'

[Chuck] You
started with steel,

which is usually the last
instrument anybody goes to.

It's usually basically
starting with acoustic guitar.

[Doug] Yeah, and I
remember Hank's birthday

as a little kid, and he
heard me playing my steel,

he said, "Well, you really
play that guitar,"

and he was really a nice guy.

- * I always keep a-rollin'
until I see day *

*

- At a young age, he
was already living

an adult life
playing honky-tonks.

They would throw money at him,

and his feet couldn't
even touch the ground yet.

The world revolves
around a seven year old.

You don't think
that was, you know?

And he knew it, man,
I mean, he knew,

he knew he had it.

[Vic] This little family
that lived out there

on the east side of town all
of a sudden had recognition.

- Oh, I met Doug more
like, 11, 12 years old.

[Joe] What was the
context you all met?

I mean, you just--

- Well, I carried the
groceries out to the car

and I saw his guitar and I say,

"You play guitar?"
and Doug said, "Yeah,"

he said, "I play steel
guitar and guitar,"

and I said, "Well, I play
a little bit of piano,"

I tried to play
guitar, but I couldn't,

my hand was still,
from the polio.

[Doug] It was some time to
be playing music over there.

It was me and Augie
and we really were

pretty into learning.

- When my grandfather went
to work in the field,

he used to tie my left leg

to my leg and to the
leg of the piano

and give me a pie
pan with a sandwich,

some cookies and a jar of water,

and I'd sit there and
try to play the piano.

- Growing up in
San Antonio, see,

it was this melting
pot of music.

Of course, Doug had grew up,

I think he went to Sam
Houston High School,

and that Augie went
to Breckenridge,

I went to Edgewood, and so

there were all these
little gigs that we played

around town and stuff like that.

- When I met Doug,
he was living out

maybe across the
field from Eastwood.

I went to his mother,

I asked her if Doug could come
and play with the big boys.

She says, "Come pick
him up at 7:30

and have him back
home at 12:30."

- Somehow, both Doug and
I ended up in his band

at the same time.

"Wow, we're in Spot
Barnett's band," you know,

he was the king
of the East Side.

- People think that I hired Doug

because he was a white boy and
this and that and the other,

and that's not the case.

Some nights, we
had to play blues,

and some things had to
be tailored to Hispanic.

Some nights, we had to
play country and western.

Doug could play
anything with anybody.

- You know, the
East Side was black,

West Side was Hispanic.

North and south were Anglo.

[Doug] People go, you know,

"How did you pick up on all
these different things?"

But when you were
growing up here,

you had to be pretty versatile

to get a job in the local
clubs in San Antonio.

- I never start
playing that stuff

till I started
playing with Doug,

and he was, he would, taught
me some things, you know?

And that was great,
man, learning from Doug,

'cause he knew his music.

- I guess Doug was like
an older brother to me

or something, you know?

We idolized Doug
because, I mean,

he was on the
radio all the time,

and he was playing
clubs downtown,

he was a few years
older than we were,

so we just thought
he was the greatest.

- My father and
mother and myself

were rather conservative people,

and my brother in high school
was out there.

One of his groups
did a matinee show

at the high school, and
they cautioned Doug,

"Do not wiggle.

If you wiggle, we're going to
pull the curtain on you."

Of course, once he
got playing the music,

off he went.

- * I got a girl here
so fine *

- My dad was a very
eccentric kinda cat.

He marched to the beat
of his own drummer.

- * But she treats me so
so so so so so very bad *

- They pulled the curtain
and it caused a riot.

[rhythm and blues music]

[Vic] The police came out,
my parents got involved,

and we were the
talk of the town,

"That Sahm kid has gone crazy,

these kids are fearing
for their life."

- * I don't love you baby

* I don't need you

* I've got a life now

- My dad's whole
life revolved around

what he called the
groove, you know?

The groove is a million things,

but it's basically things
that make Doug happy.

Good food, good music,
beautiful women.

- * Why why why

- My mom worked at
Montgomery Wards

and she was asked to
hire the entertainment

for this New Year's Eve
party or something,

so everyone kept saying,
"Hey, get Doug Sahm."

She goes, "I'll never forget,
they said,

'Doug, this is Violet.'

"He looked over at me
with his lip going,

"'Hey baby, what happening
baby, yeah?'"

I said, "Well, Mom, what'd
you think of Dad

when you met him, you know?"

She goes, "Oh, he was
such a creep, honey,

I'm sorry to say that."

So he has her sit on stage,
and he's singing songs to her,

and he's doing all that,

so the creep went from the
creep to Prince Charming

and lo and behold, here
we all are, good Lord.

- * Was it was it was it
because *

* Of my first love

[Shawn] He was 25 years old,
he's got hit records,

and here's what's really weird.

He married a lady with
three kids already.

The way he felt about my
mom was unlike any other.

- Yes siree mes amis,
on Friday night here,

the Crazy Cajun on the
[speaking Cajun.]

Doing a turn like if we had

all kind of good
senses now, Houston.

Gonna be our last night
here on the radio tonight,

so hang a bit around, listen,
got some good hits for you.

Turn the tape recorder on,

I might not be around
for a long time darlin'.

[Harvey] I heard
so much about Huey.

I mean, he was the
man in Houston,

and he was the man
that could get you

get you on a big label
and, you know, make hits.

You think gangster
mafia type thing--

it was a wilder situation.

- Doug just sent him tapes,

and he said, "Send me a hit,
I want a hit."

- Doug Sahm used to
drive me nuts.

He used to come in the
morning and drive me crazy.

Wanted to record,
always wanted to record.

I'd ask, "What am I gonna do
with this son of a bitch?"

- Huey said, "Let's get
a band together,

I want y'all to put
a band together."

Doug called me a
couple of weeks later,

he said, "Man, come
down, we'll practice,"

and I'd only a Vox organ
in America at that time,

and we'd practice for a
couple of days, and he said,

"You're right on it,
so let's go play."

[Doug] He was really trying
to pick up on something

that would hit the
British nation.

[Huey] See, I got an idea.

Everything was British,
British, British,

so we came up with the
Sir Douglas Quintet.

- Huey Meaux made us put
these clown suits on

with tails and everything,

and we had to call
ourselves Sir Augie,

Sir Douglas, Sir Johnny,
Sir Frank.

[Frank] "And if you can,"
he goes, Doug, if you can,

throw an English accent in,"

and, you know, Doug is
very good with theatrics.

- We went to Houston
and we made $25 each

and we cut the
whole first album.

[Huey] So I told 'em to
keep my name off the record.

"Don't put shit on it, we
ain't gonna tell nobody

"where this come from, and
let's see if it works."

- That was a real
hush, hush thing,

and I couldn't believe
how it took off.

- * Hullabaloo

[Announcer] Tonight on
Hullabaloo ,

Chuck Berry,
[applause]

Martha and the Vandellas,
[applause]

The Sir Douglas Quintet.
[applause]

[Frank] At this point,
rumors were that it was

an English group.

Huey tells us just before
we go into the auditorium,

he says, "Listen, you guys,

just keep your
mouths shut, okay?"

- * Hullabaloo

- Tonight, we have a chance
to introduce royalty.

[regal music]

Ladies and gentlemen,
lords and ladies,

Hullabaloo proudly presents
The Sir Douglas Quintet!

[applause]

[music "She's About a Mover"]

* Well she was a-walkin'
down the street *

* Lookin' fine as she could be

* Hey hey

* Well she was walkin'
down the street *

- Huey said, "Y'all gotta
talk English."

I remember JP saying,
"Hey, vato, man,

I'm talking the best English
I can right now you know."

- * What I say

* She's about a mover

- Then he had this guy,
and he came and sat down,

he smoked a cigar,
and he'd take his coat

and put it like this,
he had a .45 here,

and he grabbed me and Doug
by the hair and he said,

"I want you little bastards
to shake your hair

"when you go out on stage
tonight, you hear me?

I'm gonna pull your hair out
if you don't shake your hair."

I had a crick in my
neck for two days

from shaking my hair so much,

but he said, "You shook
your hair boy, that's good."

- * Hey hey

[Johnny] I mean, visually,
it was obvious

that it wasn't an English
group unless, you know,

we were from the west
side of England, you know,

from India, Indian maybe,
I'm maybe an Indian.

- * Well you know
I love you baby *

* Whoa yeah what I say

- Trini Lopez was there,
you know,

and I hadn't met
Trini Lopez before,

and he does like that, he says,

"Don't tell me," he says,
"Huey," he says,

"Don't tell me you
Doug," you know?

"I can't believe this, you've
got to let me tell the world

tonight where they're from."

I said, "It's all right
with me man," you know?

[cheering]

- I suppose all you
people assume

that the Sir Douglas Quintet
is from England,

but I have a surprise for you,

believe it or not, these fellas

are all from my
home state of Texas.

Isn't that amazing?

I bet we have fooled many.

Anyway, we'll be right
back with Vikki Carr

and Herman's Hermits,
so come back, you know?

- I'll never forget
Doug called me, he said,

"Huey just called and said,

"'Man, y'all got a hit
around the country,

and y'all never gonna have
to worry about working again.'"

[Shawn] I think the
Huey philosophy was

you have your hit and
you sell it, you know,

and you sell it like you
ain't ever sold it before.

- * Well her eyes are brown
and her hair is black *

* And who ever stole my baby *

* You'd better hurry
and bring her back *

* 'Cause I'm the tracker

- Doug and Augie
decided they wanted

to take the families
on the road.

Huey would not allow 'em
to be known to be married

and have kids and
all that stuff.

[Joe] Did he make them
take their rings off?

- Yes, yes he did.

- The music business is
not that sugar coated,

not that pretty, I mean,
this is the reality of it.

- We'd call Huey and say,
"Huey, Huey, we need money."

He said, "I'm saving
it for you, buddy,

till you come back."

Huey said, "Didn't I buy you
some shoes the other day?

"Thom McAn?

"Yeah you did, but they
were only $6,"

but he said, "Well,
I bought 'em,

and I threw that
party for y'all."

"Yeah, but you just gave
us donuts and coffee

with a party and a
bottle of whiskey."

- These guys had to
learn the hard way,

get screwed over,
do all this stuff.

They were kind of
making the rule book.

[Joe] So, what was it?

I mean, you couldn't have
said this guy, you know,

was bleeding us dry.

- Yeah, but he got us
out of San Antonio.

- * 'Cause I'm a tracker

* Honey I'm on your trail

* Yes I am

[TV Interviewer]
Any young folk singers

or rough roots that you would
recommend for us to hear?

- Oh yeah, the Sir
Douglas Quintet,

I think they're
probably the best.

- Dylan used to
put in magazines,

"Sir Douglas Quintet's
my favorite band,"

you know, so then we started
hanging out with him,

and then we'd get in
a limousine with Bob,

and we'd stop at a fruit stand

and get a big old bag of apples.

Everybody's high as a kite going
around in that limousine

eating apples.

- We were following 'em

and one of their
suitcases fell off

and it was full of diapers,

diapers all over the highway,

and Doug out there
picking 'em all up.

[Augie] Doug called
Huey one time and said,

"Huey, we're out of shit."

Called back in about
an hour later, he said,

"There's a plane coming in

bringing us half
a pound of weed."

- They were rock-n-roll stars.
[laughing]

- I believe it was a personal
conflict with my dad.

He would play the game
up to a certain point.

If it became all about
people dictating,

he couldn't handle it.

- But I mean, this is
what Huey used to do,

and then he'd say,
"Y'all going to

"Atlanta, Georgia next week,
y'all gonna fly there,

and y'all gonna do
a 30-minute show."

"Okay, how much we making?"

"Nothing, but y'all and
have a number one record

at the end of the week,"
and that was it,

we did that around the country.

[Doug] 65 was really a kick,
you know.

We were going all through the
country playing gigs with,

you know, Beach Boys,
and Lovin' Spoonful,

and you know, it was
a real heavy era.

[Joe] What killed the Quintet?

- Corpus Christi in a bust.

We got busted in Corpus Christi,

you know, for a few joints.

- We were sitting there--

I didn't know what
was happening--

I was so innocent.

And I learned about
everything then,

at that time.

- All of a sudden, I feel
this cold thing on my head,

he said, "Take your hands,
put 'em on the wheel,

"cut your car off,
put it in gear."

And I turned, he said,
"Don't turn around,"

and then pushed the
rifle in my head.

- I was scared to death.

- * It's the beginning
of the end *

[Carol] They took
all the guys,

they handcuffed 'em
and threw 'em in jail.

- We were facing seven to 10
years in the penitentiary.

- My father was embarrassed
to go to work.

Hell, he made front
page of the damn paper,

you know, I mean that's
not who we are.

- Reception was pretty
serious, you know.

I think Ricci Ware broke
the Quintet's records

or something like that on air

because they were dope fiends
and all that kind of stuff.

- Back then, yeah, I guess
Dad was a little too

easy with it or too lax with it.

- In Doug's mind, there were all
these evil entities out there

trying to mess with the groove.

[Doug] If Texas laws could
ever loosen up, that'd be great.

They'll get you, you know?

You call me this, and I say
so and so is getting high,

so and so, and they'll bust you.

Well, imagine calling
San Francisco and saying,

"Hey, so and so,"

they're gonna laugh at you.

- * We're going to break
each other's heart *

- My parents mortgaged
their little house

for every penny that they had

to keep him out of the jail.

He went on probation,
and after that,

he moved to California.

- Doug moved to 'Frisco,
and that hurt me,

but in a sense,
it motivated me too.

And then, here he said,
"We've got gigs in Canada.

Augie, can you put a
quintet band together?"

And I said, "Yeah."

I remember the promoter
in Canada said,

they looked at our quintet
picture and they said,

"Now this guy's here,
and you're here,

but these guys ain't."

I said, "Oh, they didn't
want to travel no more.

They quit playing."

[Doug] Texas was going
through a very heavy change

with young people 'cause they
all wanted to be hippies,

they all wanted to
go to California,

and I was caught up in that wave
just like Johnny Winter was,

and Janis Joplin, and it
was just a whole period

that'll never be repeated
in the history of the world.

[psychedelic music]

- The thing that makes this,
what they call the

San Francisco music scene,
as far as I'm concerned

is like, first of all, the
freedom to create here.

For some reason, like,
a lot of musicians

ended up here, so they came up
with their own kind of music.

[psychedelic music]

- He liked what he saw when
he came to San Francisco.

He would come here to record
and come here to play and stuff,

but he kept his stuff separated.

He was one of those guys.

- When we first moved
out there, like I said,

he was dealing with the fact
that he might go to jail.

He was kind of minding his
Ps and Qs for a little bit.

[Doug] I was living down
in Salinas, California,

and you can't even ask how
you capture the feeling

or something it just
happened, I mean,

it was kinda in the
air I guess, you know?

- To this day, when
I smell eucalyptus,

I'm in Salinas, California.

We had acres out in the back.

We lived on top of a hill.

We loved it.

- * In the Monterey Sun

[Dawn] God, I can still
see Dad now.

- * My work will be done

* I raise my kids

* In the Monterey Sun

* All six of 'em that's a lot

* The moon is here

[Dan] He never stopped
talking about California

and the family and
the stories, ever.

[Joe] So Dan taught leading

a conventional life like
your other friends--

- No.
- And their dads.

- It's very different.
- I mean, you got that out

early on.
- Yeah, oh yeah yeah,

very different.

[Shawn] Mom was the glue
that kept it all together.

[Dawn] Dad would come home
not looking very good.

Mom would have to
get him back up.

- Mom used to wake up
in the night

and have one of Dad's
musician friends

eating Cheerios with
Cheerios in his beard.

- [slurping] And oh man,
Dad was going, Dad was like,

"Momma, it's okay, he's just
been on an acid trip, man.

"Just let him eat, man,
he's just hungry,"

and oh, my mom got the shotgun,

oh my God, "Douglas,
I'll shoot him,

you get him out of here."

- It was so freaky, you know,
living 'round Dad,

especially from
67, 68, 69 era,

where things were
just blown wide open.

- 'Cause I think then, you
know, LSD was still new,

and he had this strange band
with Wayne Talbot on piano.

He hit this groove
that just was magic,

total magic.

[music "Can You Dig
My Vibrations"]

* Can you dig my vibrations

* To march in session
with your soul *

* And it's on now yeah

- It was a time when
Doug was just opening up

and he had just this
monumental mountain

of creativity came out of him.

[Bill] You know,
he had a big band,

horns and he had George Rains,
the most phenomenal drummer

I'd ever heard on a record.

- I think he wrote
everything on there,

and arranged everything, I mean,

he already had it
all in his head.

- He'd walk in there and say,
"All right, let's go,"

[garbled speech]

and he'd be talking to
10 people at the same time

and all of a sudden, bam,
"All right, roll the tape."

- * In your soul now

- To put horns into the mix,

that was kind of a turning point
in the San Francisco recording.

Prior to that, I mean,

the sort of San Francisco
psychedelic music world

was screeching guitars and
thumping basses so to speak.

- It's just unlike
anything ever made before.

I really felt like he
was on to something

that no other rock
and roll guy was.

Doug was about freedom.

You know, he wanted to be free
of almost all constraints.

[Doug] I've just kinda
been able to do

the music business in
my own way, you know.

I mean, I can't say I
haven't had to take orders

at certain times,
but even though

there might have been
people, you know,

sold a lot more
records or whatever,

I think it's just how much
you really love the music.

- He had so many ideas.

Sometimes he didn't
know when to quit.

You know, that was
the thing with Doug,

his stuff would
just run out of gas,

because he had no
infrastructure,

he had no manager, he
had no road manager.

His road manager was the guy
who carried the weed for him.

[Doug] Okay man, we say it,
the gig's over,

let's go home, man.

[Man] Oh, as I say,
let's do it.

Pack it up.

[Doug] Let's do this, man.

[drums crashing]

[laughter]

[Augie] Financially,
he was a disaster.

[Dan] I think he realized

he needed the Augie
sound to have a hit...

because the Augie organ
is what people remember

about the early
Sir Douglas Quintet hits.

- I wanted Augie to
do his own thing,

that's why I called
Doug the other woman,

because he was always

pulling Augie away.

[Joe] It was sometimes a
difficult relationship

to maintain.

- It was just something that--

I liked what he did and
he liked what I did,

you know, it's always,
there was a love there,

you know that, you know?

- He loved him like a brother,

but he didn't like, go and like,

"Oh, I have to have Augie."

- When you get a little older,

you kinda have to play the
game a little bit, you know?

Pay what I call the
"groove tax".

- Basically, he could make
a lot more money

doing the Quintet thing,
you know.

* My home in Chinatown

[Augie] He called me, he said,
"Man you gotta come up here,

I got some tunes, let's cut,"
and I said, "Okay."

Moved my family, packed
up, put a trailer,

moved out to LA.

- Get a call from Augie,
you know, that we,

we need a bass player.

Augie picked me
up at the airport,

and they gave me a joint,

and everything was cool,
you know.

- At some point when he got into
the whole California lifestyle,

you know, it turned full on,

and he became
friends with Garcia

and all those kind of guys.

- And I remember one of the
guys in the Grateful Dead

handed me a beer, an open beer,

and Augie took my hand,
he pushed it away,

he said, in my ear, he said,

"Don't ever take an
open can from anybody

"because it probably
has acid in it."

[soul music]

- You had the group
together for a while

and you were in the top 40,

and then you kind of
dropped from sight.

- Yeah, it took a while.

- What, the group broke up, or?

- Well, we just moved up
from Texas,

we got arrested in Texas
and we went to San Francisco

and it just takes a little
time to get together.

- You got the original
group back together again,

I wonder if tonight we could
get you to do a number for us?

- Sure.

You don't have to wait,
we'll do it right now.

[applause]

[music "Mendocino"]

Sir Douglas Quintet is back,

we'd like to thank all you
beautiful people out there

for all the beautiful
vibrations.

We love you.

* Teeny bopper

* My teenage lover

* I caught your waves
last night *

* It sent my mind a-wonderin'

* You're such a groove
please don't move *

* Please stay in my love
house by the river *

- People went crazy.

There'd be a hundred
people lined up

just to get a photograph,
picture from the DJ.

- I heard that until I
wanted to pull my hair out.

Every time you turned
on the radio, it was on.

[Doug] Well, you know,
we were pretty lucky

to be able to come
in and out with hits,

you know, we had
a hit in 65, 66,

and nothing till 69,
then we had

the biggest hit in
"Mendocino" we ever had.

- * Mendocino Mendocino

* Where life's such a groove

* You blow your mind
in the morning *

- There was a secretary that
worked for Mercury Records,

and they went to Mendocino
to take advantage

of this bed and breakfast place.

That was the inspiration
for that song.

- He wasn't very
discreet about it at all.

I think in his mind,
he had his chick

and the groove and
the music scene here,

he had his family here,
"Man, I'm making money,

I got hit records man,
life is beautiful for Doug."

- He'd always tried to get
Violet to groove with him.

"Forget about those
kids, you know?

"Come and groove with me, momma.

You never groove
with me anymore."

[laughing]

She got tired of
him saying that,

so she said, "Okay, I'm
gonna forget about the kids,

I'm gonna groove."

She got high with him,
started drinking a little bit,

kids were crying and the
diapers were stinking,

and he finally said, "Okay,
take care of those kids,"

you know, she taught
him a lesson.

She was tough.

- I remember him
picking up girls

and paid Ashbury to, you know,
go cruise around his Cadillac.

He'd go, "You remember that?"

And I would like, describe it.

- Mom was tired of hippies.

She was like, "I don't want
to be around hippies anymore,

I want a little more
stable environment."

- I mean, there's
Mercedes Benz bills,

and coming from other ladies,

and oh Dad-- I wouldn't
take that crap.

- * Please stay here with me
in Mendocino *

- Like anybody, at some point,
you have- you reach your limit.

[Violet] Hello Douglas.

One of these days,
I'm not gonna be here

for you to talk so ugly to,

so you better change
your way of life.

What I'm gonna do is

I'm gonna find me a
big old strong cowboy,

with big old strong arms

that can hold me real tight,

because that's what turns me on,

not these long haired
hippy rock and rollers,

no guts about 'em at all,

and they scream at
their old ladies

and they're so sweet
to their chicks,

well that's bullshit
with two Ts.

[Shawn] She said,
"I'm taking the kids,

I'm moving, you can come,
you can stay,"

'cause she knew Doug was
gonna do what he wanted.

[music "Texas Me"]

He wasn't gonna lose
the family and mom.

- * Stranded outside
of Houston *

* Not a dime do I own

* I used to go back

* To beautiful woods

* Back there in San Antone

* I wondered in San Francisco

* Wonderin' where
I ought to be *

- The second we hit
the state lines,

he wanted a Big Red,
and I remember

running down the aisle of the
convenience store going,

"What are we doing, Dad?"

He goes, "We're trying
to find a Big Red,"

and we were pointing
to a lot the red sodas,

he'd go, "No, that's not it,
that's not it.

Here it is!"

[country music]

[accordion music]

- He loved accordion.

He used to go to
my house and say,

"Hey man, let's play."

We had different ways
because I was in conjunto,

and he was in rock
and roll or whatever,

but still we were
buddies, we were friends.

[conjunto music]

[Doug] This is why San
Antonio's so soulful, you see?

At night, you hear all
the chop, chop, chop,

all the best music.

[Augie] Doug would
go to this little place

and drink beer and play
the bajo and accordion,

you know, hang out
in the back yard.

- It was just such a--

I mean, you know, just
sitting watching him play.

I mean, he was
really getting down.

He wanted to be a chicano,
you know what I mean?

[Shawn] When we moved
from California to Texas,

here's how different
things were.

Long haired guys
with cowboy hats,

rock and roll with accordion,

back then, all those
things were weird.

My step brother, he would get
his butt kicked all the time

'cause he came back
dressed like my dad,

he had long hair and
a cowboy hat, boots,

they didn't like that,
it's like,

rednecks didn't like it,

the long hairs didn't like it,

it was like, "Hey, what
are you," you know?

- I was in San Francisco,

and Doug wanted me
to come record.

They picked me up
at the airport,

so they go, "Okay, we gotta
go eat some enchiladas."

So we're in there eating food,
drinking beer,

laughing, talking, cop walks in.

Walks over to Doug and goes,

"Is that your car out there?"

Doug gets up, goes out
with the cop.

I look up through the glass,

and this guy's like,
got a hold of Doug

and he's throwing him
up against the car,

grabs Doug by the hair, slams
his face right into the car,

and says, "Your eyes are
bloodshot, you're drunk,

so you're under arrest."

- * If I had my way

* I'd leave here today

* And move in a hurry *

- That was a weird time,
because Mom and Dad

were fighting different,
you know what I mean?

And you could tell it was
starting to fall apart, man.

Their marriage.

* Though I could lose

- Mom threw a bunch
of glass at his feet.

They were in the kitchen,
my dad had

absolutely, you know,
no shoes on,

"Momma, Momma,"
and Momma was like,

"Don't you!"

They divorced and it was over.

- I don't think he kind of
wanted to live in San Antonio,

I think it was kind of
weird for him.

He was looking for that place,

and like all his old places,
he stumbled across Austin,

and he was hooked.

[horns music]

[Doug] I love my hometown,
but it's so heavy at times,

and Austin's so nice
and laid back.

[horns music]

[Bill] I think he
really liked the freedom

of being a solo man.

[Doug] They've just
got a better attitude

toward long hair and lately,

well, the old timers and
people really realize

how groovy it is.

- He said, "Bentley, better
than 'Frisco, man--

warmer, pretty women."

- He moved in to the
house above our business.

It's the Soap Creek Saloon.

It was down this
little dirt road,

and there was nothing for miles.

- I was bartending out there.

People would come in for the
afternoon and have a beer

and realize it was
a couple of hippies,

and they'd just leave,
beer half full,

didn't want to be associating
with these people at all.

[laughs]

And then when this fella
Doug Sahm came to town,

we didn't know what
to really expect.

Everybody on the bandstand,

well it looked like
he'd rounded them all up

at the bus stop.

[Doug] Here's a thing we
do the first part about--

program for all the people
who love the Texas legend

Mr. T-Bone Walker,
we going down?

[cheering]
Yeah.

[upbeat blues]

- I went, "Way, this
is gonna be good."

- * Well come on little girl

* Papa ain't salty no more *

[Speedy] You could see where
it was all getting mixed up,

rhythm and blues, country
and western, jazz,

a bit of everything, you know?

[Carlyne] The reach he had

with all this music
was incredible.

[guitar solo]

*

*

[Doug] Take a little time there,
Augie, take a little time.

[piano solo]

- The deal with Doug was,
he was never the same.

It might be this amazing
country act doing a song,

followed by this amazing
rhythm and blues.

There might be horns,
there might not be horns.

- Everything was
being broken down

to a big musical education.

You know, if you
thought you knew it all,

you'd start to realize
you don't know nothing.

[Carlyne] Doug was always
focused on every aspect,

as the perfect band
leader would be,

and you can see in
his performances

when he would turn
around and start pumping

in order to get them to
rise to the occasion.

[Doug] Come on, Jack,
tickle that bass now,

man, work that bass.

[bass solo]

[Louis] Doug wanted to see where
he could push Jack Barber,

and where he could
push Speedy Sparks.

They were really good,

but it was with Doug who was
pushing them to be better.

- * Yeah, well, oooowww

* Ewww

Get it, man, get it, get it,
get it, get it, get it,

get it, get it, get it,
get it, get it, woo!

Get it, you crazy Pisces!

Go ahead!

- We could play a four-hour gig,

he says, "Man, the gig's
already over?"

The time went like that,
man, [laughter]

'cause we knew that if we
were gonna play with Doug,

we were gonna be playing
some shit, you know?

And that was it, man,
that's the groove.

[Doug] Jack Barber,
ladies and gentlemen.

* Come home little girl

* Yeah come home little girl

- There was a certain
sense at Soap Creek

that everyone was important,

that all of their
music was important.

- * Papa ain't salty no more

[cheering and applause]

- Soap Creek Saloon was a Sahm
kid's daycare center, okay?

San Antonio was the reality,

it was school, it was
Mom saying,

"I've had enough
of this hippy crap,

"you get in the bathtub
and you wake up

and you go to school,"

and Austin was the music groove,
and the, you know,

the Barton Springs,
and just full on.

What kid wouldn't love that?

- There were cowboys
and there were hippies,

and it was so alive.

And realized that for
the first time ever,

I feel I'm at home, like
I'm supposed to be here.

- I never met anybody, and I
can say this true about Doug,

I've never met anybody who
had so many best friends,

you know what I mean?

Whether you're actually,
Doug felt like you

were his very best
friend or not,

you felt like you were.

- He was quite capable of
getting anyone to come in

and serve at his bequest, and
we were always quite amazed.

[Joe] Now you were there

the night that Freddy Fender
came to town.

- Oh yeah.

Freddy was like his
kinda like idol in a way.

[Doug] Now a song written by
the great Freddy Fender.

Freddy, this is for you,
wherever you are.

* Wasted days and
wasted nights *

[Doug] I first knew Freddy
when I was in high school.

We played his shows, little
girls used to scream,

"Ah, Freddie," you know, and
he had the real bad thing,

and he had to go
out for a few years.

- He had just gotten out
of prison at Angola,

so I tracked him down,
he was going to

social work school
in Corpus Christi.

He swore to me that he was
not gonna play anymore,

that he was gonna
go by the rules...

and I talked him into doing it,

and I sent him money so
he could ride the bus up.

[Speedy] We started
bringing him up

to Austin to work
gigs at Soap Creek.

All these people were
packed in this hall

on Monday night to see him.

He turned, he said, "Man,
you made all these people

"come out on Monday
to see us, man."

- I have never been treated
better in my life

by rednecks, man.

Of course, I went through the
same thing when I was a kid,

I'd see a redneck and I'd
throw a rock at him, you know?

But things are
different now, man,

it seems like the whole
world is finally getting

the understanding of if
you're good, you're good,

regardless of what
color you are, you know?

[Speedy] I always knew Freddy
had the star quality,

and that's why I said,
"Once he gets his chance,

you'll know, world."

[Freddy] I'd like to dedicate
this song to my partner,

soul partner, Mr. Doug Sahm
from San Antonio.

Wherever you are, brother.

* Wasted days and
wasted nights *

[Doug] So much great music
came out of it, you know,

and Soap Creek was cooking,
and I had the record

on how quick I could
get to the club,

you know, I knew every bump.

[music "Be Real"]

* Be real

- One Sunday afternoon,

he was there with Johnny
Winter and Willie Nelson.

And he said, "We ought
to play tonight,"

and they all said,
"Okay, let's go,"

and one person
went to the phone,

and within 45 minutes,
that place was packed.

[laughter] And I don't
know how it happened,

'cause only one person
went to the telephone,

I was watching.

- * That's all I ask of you

[Augie] All of a sudden,
Austin has everybody

living there and making
this thing called

progressive country music.

It's so progressive
country to me,

it's all that dark
country I call it.

[Alvin] Everybody
was going to hard rock,

funk to disco,
and here's Austin,

going back to the 40s.

[Willie] I think
the young people

are wanting to hear
something that's American

and original, and
country music is that.

- The country influence had
become so prominent in Austin

that a gang of guys got
together and started

an outlaw FM radio
station called KOKE FM.

[Doug] This is Doug Sahm,
and this is KOKE FM,

the only place you
hear cosmic cowboys,

West Coast freaky cowboys,
and of course,

our own Austin cowboys,

of which there are
more all the time.

[progressive country music]

[Alvin] It was hippies making
friends with the rednecks.

- They really realized
they had more in common

than they had
against each other.

They were all from Texas, and
we all liked the same thing,

which was basically
drink whiskey

and listen to these
guys play country music.

- Austin became very, very hip--
it became important.

- We were a band that was kinda

basically trying to find roots
Americana music, you know.

We went, "Wow, this
place is incredible."

- People were here because
they wanted to be here,

and Doug was so ahead of
the curve on all that,

you know, that notion of that
there were no boundaries.

[country music]

- Today, we're penetrating
the country field.

I'm specializing in that.

One of my current strong
projects is Doug Sahm,

formerly of the
Sir Douglas Quintet,

who is another musician

who I would give the
accolade of genius.

[Shawn] At the time, you know,
Jerry was at the height

of his game in 72,
right, he was huge.

Wexler came to town
looking for Doug Sahm.

[Jerry] There's a long,
elaborate background

to my interest in Texas music,

and western swing
and blues and so on,

but to be very succinct
and to the point,

there are two words, Doug Sahm.

- * Girls like you come
wonderin' what's going on *

[Doug] Jerry, he was
one of the main forces

in music in America,
gave me a shot.

[Louis] We had a lot of
good players on the record,

including Fathead Newman,
The Memphis Horns, Dr. John.

- We was both destined, some
kind of witchy way, to hook up.

He had an interest in
all kinds of music.

He was spiritually hip
to a lot of things

that people ain't hip to.

His spirit was wide open.

- * I had seen you standing

* In the smokey haze

* I know then you're
gonna be mine *

* One of these days

- Dylan had been
like this recluse

and that was actually
the first record

he had been on in years.

- So, he used to come up
for that session,

pick up the guitar,
hit a few chords.

He said, "You know,
I've done the word trip,

"I wanna do the music trip."

- * Wallflower wallflower
won't you dance with me *

* I'm fallin' in love with you

*

- One day, I received a call,
and it was Doug Sahm.

"Hey, why don't you
come over, man?

I'm here in Atlantic cutting
a record with Jerry Wexler."

I was just nervous,
you know, to meet Dylan

and Dr. John and all
those guys, you know?

But I was coached a lot by Doug.

- * Still I can't hear priest

[Doug] Flaco!

[accordion solo]

*

- Flaco Jimenez was
a bad sucker.

Doug had an ear for
people that was bad.

Nobody can roll like Doug.

Doug can roll like that.

[bluesy jazz music]

[Joe] At this session
in New York,

and there's Bob Dylan,
and Fathead, and Dr. John.

- I had horns, the steel player
that I was playing with,

Jerry Lee Lewis at the time.

Had a lot of people on it.

[bluesy jazz music]

[Speedy] Probably
the biggest gift

Doug ever gave to Austin
was in the early 70s,

and just being amongst us.

- He's there, he's in Austin,

groovers' paradise, this
is where he's gonna live,

this is where he
wants to live now.

- Doug was the street life,
you know,

Doug was Austin.

- He was a community organizer,

a community leader,

and you just wanted
to go with him, ah.

[applause]

[Doug] Thank you,
you're beautiful, man.

[Bill] Doug ruled
Austin, he really did.

He ruled the city.

[Doug] Okay,
what's it gonna be?

"Mendocino" or "Nuevo Laredo"?

[cheering]

Okay, let's hear it,
"Nuevo Laredo"!

[cheering]

"Mendocino"!

[cheering]

Okay, here you go, for
all the little boys

that grew up in Texas,

this song will be real
close to your hearts.

After drunken football
games on Friday nights.

[Bill] He had it all,
and he loved it here.

- * In a little border town

[Shawn] He kinda had the
world at his fingertips.

- * Way down there in
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico *

* I spied a senorita there

* Wind blows through
her long black hair *

* As I cut a trail on
the way to Boys Town *

* Well we smoked and
drank the night away *

* In a dimly lit cafe

* Long hairs were a novelty
to the people on the scene *

* Played the blues
till early dawn *

* Everybody sang along

* We had such a ball
in Nuevo Laredo *

* Nuevo Laredo

* Nuevo Laredo I hear
you calling back to me *

* In the time and all
its glory oh yeah *

[Doug] Austin is
known as a playground,

you know, we've got over
200,000 people there,

40,000, 50,000 of
'em are students,

so I mean, and not
counting the other 30,000

who just dropped out who
went to school two years ago.

I bet you, if you got a den,

I bet you 220,000,
250,000 people in Austin,

I bet there's 100,000 groovers.

And people say, "Yeah,
that's probably right."

- * In the time and
all its glory *

* Nuevo Laredo

* Nuevo Laredo

* Nuevo Laredo

* Nuevo Laredo

[cheering and applause]

All right!

- And it's been eight years
between Elvis and the Beatles,

where's our new
Messiah coming from?

And unbeknownst to me, it
wasn't gonna come from,

you know, somebody
anywhere else,

it was happening
right underneath us.

[Doug] Hi everybody,
this is Doug Sahm,

I hope you enjoyed my new album

on KOKE FM it tops in
the new country sound

that's sweeping the nation.

- When that record came out,

he must've thought
it was gonna explode,

and I think he was pretty
shook that it didn't.

[Jerry] Sold a few copies,

but when you're too good,
you have to be very studied

about what kind of
record to give people,

'cause it's more
than they can absorb.

The other way of
saying it I guess is

it's sort of like mediocrity
prevails in America.

[Doug] 'Cause I know
what you did.

The chances of somebody
from the outside

going there and digging that is
about 100% that they won't.

I mean, really, 100%
that they won't,

there's not even hardly
a chance that they will.

[Bill] There was jazz
and blues and country

and rock, Latino.

I don't think the
public connected

with all the different sounds.

[cheering]

- * Whiskey River take my mind

* Don't let her memory
torture me *

[Terry] Willie got
a tremendous amount

of economic success rolling,
whereas Doug didn't.

[Bill] KOKE FM was
playing Willie all day long

like it was the Beatles
or something.

I'd go, "Man, this guy,
he's taking over."

- In my mind, one of
the most important guys

in Texas music, Willie Nelson,
Doug Sahm...

Willie's famous, Doug's not.

[Carlyne] Once you get a
subculture to a certain size,

it encompasses the
entire community.

It's a broader audience, we
saw fewer and fewer regulars.

[Doug] There is a certain
syndrome of some stars

having this giant entourage
of people around them,

and that, I've tried to avoid.

Sometimes, like, if you get
a Bob Dylan or Willie Nelson,

there's just so many
people around all the time,

you know, just kinda going
psh, you know what I mean?

And it becomes like, that
kind of circus atmosphere,

I can't explain it.

- Oh, he'd bitch about it
and make records,

and bitch about it,

and then encourage everybody
to come down here,

so it was, it was--

it didn't make any sense,
but you know.

- Doug in some ways
had kind of peaked,

so Willie rose to the top,

and Doug only liked to
play when he was first.

It was sports mentality, right?

"I gotta be first,
I gotta be first."

- You'd hear my dad a lot
through his career

talk about all the
places he went to,

how the groove eventually
came to an end, you know,

and I think what that
meant is in Doug's words,

that that meant it
got discovered

and tons of people came
and it wasn't the small

kinda intimate community thing

this used to be when
he first got there.

[Bill] Austin quit paying
attention to him.

[music "Stoned Faces Don't Lie]

* Stoned faces don't lie

* Baby when you're high

* Other day saw a picture
of an old friend of mine *

* Back to the days when
friends they were so mellow *

* It made me stop and think
as I looked on his face *

* And I thought about
what's goin' down today *

* Stoned faces don't lie

* Baby when you're high *

* Stoned faces
don't lie Austin *

* Baby when you're high

*

[applause]

- Thank you!

- There was always a
great respect in Europe

for home-grown American music.

- Anybody here in the
house ever been down to,

down to Texas at all?

Down on the Rio Grande
or the Guadeloupe Rivers?

Guy over there.

Been down and drank
a little tequila

on the border a few
times probably, right?

[Larry] Wherever we would go,
he would fill the place.

- Well, over here, they
liked the old country,

they've never been bombarded
with a lot of the new pop.

See, country music
now in America

is not necessarily
country anymore,

it's kind of a pop music thing,

I'm not gonna mention any names,

so to me, I like the
old country sound,

the Bob Wills Western swing,

and there are some
good guys playing now,

like Alvin Crow, but again,

they're not owned by giant
American corporations.

I'm gonna try to bring
him here next year.

He wants to come real bad.

- I can remember him saying,

"I'm gonna take you
guys around the way,"

like a tour guide almost.

We played Germany and France
and England, you know,

and basically we just
enjoyed being together.

- * Meet me in Stockholm baby

* We'll mess around

* Take a real slow boat

* To Helsinki town

* And when it's over know

- Doug was always
the deal maker,

and so he got interested
in rejuvenating

the Sir Douglas Quintet.

- * We'll mess around

Play it, Augie,
play it pretty, boy.

[accordion plays]

- That's when we did
"Meet Me in Stockholm".

It was a pretty big hit.

[Joe] This is pretty
interesting.

You get to play with Doug,
and then Augie shows up,

so what does Augie
bring to the table?

- Right, well the
repertoire expanded.

Doug loved Augie for his vibe
as much as for his talent.

[Doug] Sing with me, Augie.

* Meet me in Stockholm baby

- So we get ready to
go to Scandinavia,

and Doug goes, "I've got
something to tell you guys.

We gotta learn some
new material."

I go, "Why, why?"

He goes, "Well, we got
these hits in Scandinavia

that you guys don't
know at all."

and so he starts playing
and we're going, "Oh no."

[applause]

- * The train to Trondheim
was right on time *

* Swinging my way to baby

* We look alive

[Kerry] He sort of tried
to cater to the old country.

- * I made an unexpected stop

- We were doing songs about
European towns and everything,

and they wanted songs
about Texas and America.

It backfired on us.

* - Bavarian baby *

* Bavarian baby

* Running down the road

* Down the road

* Bavarian baby

*

* Nowhere like Norway

* Nowhere like Norway

* Nowhere like Norway at all

[Bill] Doug was a
beautiful human being,

but he was also always
trying to maneuver

and Augie was a great
counterpart to that

in that he was always
straight ahead.

- I told Doug, I said,
"Doug, be real,"

you know, I just had
to tell him,

I said, "Be real, you know
that ain't gonna work."

- I don't think there
was a tour we did

that didn't end
with Augie saying,

"This is the last time I'm
ever working with that guy."

[laughter]

[Joe] It's just something
you have to accept.

- That's life with Doug.

[Speedy] The vibe on that
last tour wasn't great.

[Doug] In the year 1625,

King Gustav of Sweden

sent out an order to
build the finest warship

that would ever sail the Baltic.

- I think if you really
pressed Doug,

he wouldn't have seen
"Meet Me in Stockholm"

and those songs as his best,

but he did 'em and he would
never apologize for 'em.

I think that's because
there's many facets,

there were many kind
of Doug Sahms in a way.

And none of 'em, he
didn't look at any of 'em

being untrue, but also,

he was a commercial being,
he knew what it took.

- * That eyes of the world
were on Stockholm that day *

* He floated alone to
back home here to stay *

* He raised the mighty warship
from its watery grave *

* It wasn't destined

[Joe] He bores easily?

- Yeah.

[Joe] What is that?

- No matter who he was with,

he was wishing he was
with somebody else.

[laughing] No matter
where he was,

he was wishing he
was somewhere else.

[Interviewer] Well, we
have a very special guest

with us this evening, Doug Sahm

welcome to Canada.

- Thank you, man,
nice to be here.

- I just started getting
the odd phone call from Doug

out of the blue and
I was so thrilled,

and I was, you know,
I was a huge fan,

so it meant a lot to me.

That's when we started
working together

on the Amis, Doug
and Jean project.

[music "Teardrops On
Your Letter"]

* Teardrops on your letter

* That I got from you

- I heard him play
some Mexican salsa,

baja sexto, however you say it,

and if you didn't know the
songs, that was no problem,

he'd come over and
show you your part.

[Holger] After we did the
record in 87,

we started doing festivals,

the Winnipeg Folk Festival,
Mariposa in Toronto.

- When you're on stage
with that guy

and everything's cooking,

it's like there is no ceiling.

You put up with a lot.

[Doug] It's 40 below zero, man.

I mean, people think
they've been cold,

they're like, at night,
they're shivering.

Man, this ain't nothing, I mean,

we're talking, you know,
10 foot drifts,

and somebody Texas
never seen a lifetime,

and it blew my mind, you know.

- He had leased a place
on Vancouver Island

in the town of Victoria.

[Holger] He was just totally
in his own environment.

It seemed like he wanted to be

really quiet and
away from everything.

[Gene] He didn't
even have a phone.

- * Little girl

* Head down the road *

- Every time he got the fruits
of what he worked for,

it freaked him out to the point,
to where he'd kinda recoil.

And unintentionally
throw a wrench in it.

- * And it sure does
wig me out *

* When I think about

- As time went on,

um, he uh,

he started putting up barriers
that became a little more,

he said, "Well, I don't
want to play with

the same rhythm section,"
he said.

"I want to bring some
of my own guys."

- I heard all about it,
you know.

But Doug wanted his
guys from Texas.

- Doug also would
say from time to time

that he couldn't get
any good Mexican food.

I mean, where he was
in Shawnigan Lake,

he had to go to Nanaimo to
go to a Mexican restaurant,

that was like, you know, about
an hour and a half drive.

- * That I took the time

* To concentrate on you

- Doug was never
satisfied with one thing.

It's almost like his DNA

would not allow him
to be tied down.

- You know, he just decided,

"I don't wanna do this no more,"

and flake off.

* But you just can't
live in Texas *

* If you don't have
a lot of soul *

[Jack] The other stuff
was fine, make a few bucks,

but he had to come
back to the real shit.

- * Hey baby que paso

* Thought I was your only vato

* Hey baby que paso

* Won't you give me un beso

[Joe] "Hey Baby Que Paso",
I mean,

I think Doug was in Canada
when Augie recorded it.

- I think so.

[Joe] And that might have
precipitated the return.

- I know, I think you're right.

Didn't Augie put
that out on his own?

[Joe] Yeah, it was a hit.

- Yeah, it was a hit.

[Joe] It got
picked up handsomely.

- Yeah, and Doug's jealous.

- It agitated him
that I had a hit.

[Joe] This was a motivator.

- Yeah, but that's
when he came back here

and got with Randy Garibay,

and they cut Manana, you know.

But it didn't hit.

[Interviewer] When you went
to California in the 60s,

when you went to
Sweden in the 80s,

when you went to Canada
in the late 80s,

you always come back to Texas.

[Doug] Yeah, that's what
fires up the memories.

[conjunto music]

I lived in Canada for
almost a year and half.

It was really lovely,
but I really missed

all my baseball
compadres, you know,

and chicano buddies,
musicians, in San Antonio.

- Texas was like a plate
of food for him, man.

He had to get some food for
him to get some satisfaction.

[Doug] Thursday morning,
I was cutting these polkas,

and recording Spanish music.

That night, Jimmy Dan Halvin
came down,

we played this
incredible country gig,

and then Sunday, I just
played in the park,

the old west side tunes,

for thousands of
west side chicanos,

I mean, nowhere in the
world can you do that.

[conjunto music]

- Doug said, "Man,
I'm talking to a guy

out in Warner Brothers,"
he said,

"They want to get a big
supergroup together

"thing going with
Tex-Mex music."

And I said, "Yeah,
but who else?"

He said, "Let's get Flaco,

and let's see if Freddy
wants to do it."

- I would like to introduce
the following Americans.

Freddy Fender,

[cheering and applause]

Flaco Jimenez,

[cheering and applause]

Augie Myers,

[cheering and applause]

and Doug Sahm.

[cheering and applause]

Folks, make way for
the Texas Tornado!

[cheering]

[music "Ella Pertenece
Al Diablo"]

[singing Spanish]

* I met a little tejanita

* And I fell in love with her *

* She was so bonita

- Doug was just in his
natural element again,

being the guru.

"These are my boys, we're
the Tex-Mex Beatles,

"look at Flaco, look at
Freddy, look at Augie,"

he was so proud of the Tornados,

that was the true
blessing of his life.

- * So I can come back home

[Doug] Flaco!

[accordion solo]

*

- When we were traveling
in the tour bus, whatever,

Doug just stands up in
the middle of the bus,

"The non-groovers on
this side of the bus,

and the groovers on
this side of the bus."

[Texas Tornados singing
in Spanish]

- Whether you were
on stage grooving

or you were grooving off stage,

the idea was to just
enjoy what you were doing

24 hours a day, we were
grooving, grooving,

grooving on the
bus, grooving here

and grooving there, you know.

- We're like an old cockroach,
you know, in the sink?

You put hot water so
you can get rid of it,

then when you turn
the faucet off,

you wait about five minutes,

the son of a gun
comes out again.

[laughter]

- I feel like the quarterback
of a championship team,

I gotta, I know Flaco's
gonna kill 'em,

I know he's gonna kill 'em,

he's going for it,
Augie's gonna kill 'em.

- You heard of New Kids
on the Block?

We're the old farts
in the neighborhood.

Dougie saw him, and
he said, "Man, Freddy,

"all you draw is old women
with no teeth." [laughing]

[Texas Tornados singing
in Spanish]

[laughter]

[Doug] We're basically
really happy

now that were getting
out to other places

that we can get around.

We're just going trucking,
making good music.

[conjunto music]

[conjunto music]

[Beavis] I heard these
guys are bilingual.

[Butthead] Yeah.

That dude in the back,
he's got two linguals.

[laughing]

- Are you familiar with
a musical phenomenon

known as Tex-Mex?

[David] Yes I am, Paul,
and are you familiar

with the phenomenon of a
full-length mirror?

[laughter]

- We have a group here,
the Texas Tornados,

and they're sitting in with us
for the entire evening,

and they are four of
the prime proponents

of the Tex-Mex sound,
each of them

a star in his own right.
- Call them out right now.

[Paul] Mr. Doug Sahm,
ladies and gentlemen.

[David] All right, how are ya?

- The Texas Tornados validated
Doug again in his mind,

so he was free to be,
you know, Sir Doug.

He was free to be the guy
that was at the top.

[Joe] And what did
Doug bring to the table?

- Doug Sahm. [laughter]

The whole nine yards, you know.

Doug, today, there's
two guitar players,

that's ultimate guitar player.

It was him and Chris Holzhaus.

You know, those are
my two guitar players,

you know, and I
love both of 'em.

They're both gone.

But...

And Freddy's gone too,
you know, that's...

You know...

you just keep going.

[somber music]

[Shawn] You know what I learned?

I always said, I told him,

I told him, I said,
"Dad," I remember one time

I wrote a song
called "One and Only",

and it was on Zone of Our Own ,

the Texas Tornado record
Zone of Our Own ,

and there's this line
in it that says,

"Empty bottle stares at me,
suitcase by the door,"

now, any Doug heads'll know
I'm a big honky blues fan,

so a song has a line that says,

* Suitcases packed

* Sitting over by the
bed by the door *

So when I said that
line in mine, he goes,

"Hey man, I think you
got that from me, man!

Yeah, yeah, yeah,"
you know, he was like,

"Oh wow," you know?

And I go, "What are
you talking about, Dad?

I got everything
from you, man."

[cheering]

- All right.

And now the San Antonio
portion of the program.

Boy, we could have a
cheering match here, man,

we got Texas all
over the place here.

This next song is
very important,

would you give me a drum roll,

Ernie, would you give
me a drum roll there?

This kinda song, if
you're from South Texas,

you can rise, as we do, the
San Antonio national anthem,

here we go.

[drum roll]

- * Hey baby que paso

* Thought I was your only vato

* Hey baby que paso

* Won't you give me un beso

* Come on baby turn around

* Let me show you how I feel

* Don't you know
that I love you *

* And my corazon is real

* Hey baby que paso

* Thought I was your only vato

* Hey baby que paso

* Won't you give me un beso

[Doug] Ah sweet
Augie, Augie my baby.

[accordion solo]

* Hey baby que paso

* Thought I was your only vato

* Hey baby que paso

* Won't you give me un beso

[cheering]

Thank you.

[cheering and applause]

[Announcer] Ladies
and gentlemen,

Mr. Shawn Sahm everybody.

[cheering]

- Before we go any further,

every show we do, man,
every time we walk

on the stage, it's about
celebrating Doug Sahm

and Freddy Fender,
man, let's hear it.

[cheering and applause]

[Shawn] Here we go,
this is what we do,

and this is the best
medicine right here,

for all of us to get together
and groove for 'em, right?

* Who were you thinking of

* When we were making
love last night *

There it is, baby!

* Was it a good
looking stranger *

* Or a close friend of mine

* You didn't want to quit

* When we were into it
last night *

* Who were you thinking of

* When we were loving
last night *

* Who were you thinking of

* When I was making
love to you *

* There was a smile
on your face *

* I hadn't seen in some time

- My first impression
of Doug was

"God, this guy
talks." [laughter]

- Doug talked in a
patois, and you know,

it was like there
was this cadence,

this da, da, da, and it was
"man," and it was "cat."

- Man, he would give you energy

just being around you.

- Put his attache
case on the desk

and open it up, and
there'd be like,

15 to 20 different
varieties of weed,

and you'd proceed to...

you know, smoke it,
and two hours later,

you're still yapping
away with Doug, you know.

- I mean, when he used to come
into Warner Brothers records,

when he had the Tornados going,

and all the
executives were like,

telling each other on the phone,

"Close your doors,
Doug's in the building."

[Joe] So, it was different than
most people back then?

- Yes! [laughing]

- Doug Sahm was different
than most people.

- I'd just say that
Doug was probably

the seminal musician
of my generation.

- Doug Sahm, you listen
to all those records,

and it's obvious that he was,

you know, incapable of following

anybody else's plan for him.

- Jerry Garcia said, "Man, I
sure would like to play here,"

and I'm just fluttered by it,

and he looks first,
"Why don't we just wait

till Doug gets here?" he said,

"He needs to be the band
leader of this thing,

he knows a thousand songs."

- A human jukebox, man, I mean,

he knew every damn, he
knew every song, man.

- Doug would go in and out
of a lot of the clubs

where the Hispanic garage
groups were playing,

and the Hispanics just
fell in love with him,

they forgot about
his color, just,

it did not matter, they heard
Doug was gonna play,

and they pumped it
up like it was us.

- We found there were fans
everywhere in Japan.

One time, there was a
record store in Tokyo

called Groover's Paradise.

- Almost astounding to me

that he could be this
famous, talented artist

and find a groove in
everyday life, you know?

- Put his arm
around me, he said,

"I want you to play
on Soap Creek team,"

you know, so it was
like, well, you know,

t-shirts or free nights
at Soap Creek?

I sold out to the
highest bidder.

- We always say Doug was in
search of the perfect taco,

and that's true.

He could only stay away
from tacos for so long,

it was like a heroin addict.

- Man, he dragged me
all over Louisiana

trying to find a
boudin joint for a week

that he couldn't
remember where it was,

and he wasn't just
trying to do something,

he wasn't thinking
with his head,

he was leading with his heart.

- Doug was kind of a,

he was like the, oh...

you might say
revolutionary hero.

- Doug would just stand
laughing with those guys,

and they're doing a
floor show, but Doug,

you know what I mean,
Doug would be doing this,

doing the splits on
stage, [laughing]

you know, you're gonna
break a leg or something.

[Joe] Who was this character?

Who was he?

- I could say it in three words.

I have my biological father,

he was my musical father.

- He enabled other people
to be the best they could,

because he kept
pulling it out of 'em.

- He made Freda and the
Firedogs believe in ourselves

I think in a way that we weren't

grasping and taking in,

into our souls at that point.

- What Daddy taught us is, um...

"be real".

- I don't know that a Doug Sahm

could ever break through today,

because it's just,

it's so improbable.

- How did I ever come out of
the west side of the barrio,

ended up in the
Arctic Circle of Finland,

you know what I'm saying?

- I don't think there'll
ever be another Doug Sahm,

and I've looked
out there for him,

and I can't find him, you know?

- I mean, he was
put on this earth

like a Texas tornado
that he was,

came in, left us
all this beautiful,

great body of work and music,

and went, "I'm out of here."